Cornell
by Ronald Linder
Joe Cornell made me in all
his boxes … owl, doll, pink palace,
Lauren Bacall, twigs, apothecary
jars, animal bone buttons …
Stare at my head through
the open ceiling of his
room on the cover of a
magazine …
Wicker chair, folding table
fragment of a mirror,
Blue Italian Prince …
Gaze down at me
in his frame and wonder
if I know I’m there.